


The Dance of Discovery

by hoddypeak



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Anne is clueless to her own feelings, Developing Relationship, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Friendship, It sure gave me them, Season 3, Still faithful to the canon so there's no declaration of love, that's relatable though, this has The dance scene in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 07:31:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20849783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoddypeak/pseuds/hoddypeak
Summary: Ever since the first train ride, Anne couldn't help but notice a slight difference in the way Gilbert acted around her. In fact, it was the only thing she paid attention to these days.----This is my take on how they can go from episode 2 to Gilbert throwing the most beautiful heart eyes at Anne in The dance scene.SEASON 3 SPOILERS!!!





	The Dance of Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a maximum 700-word drabble but I trolled myself lol
> 
> First time writing a Shirbert fic! I hope you like it :)

October was a truly magical month in Anne’s opinion. She loved how colourful it was and how, despite that, it had a certain melancholic atmosphere to it. Entering Autumn was like having to say good-bye to a very good friend, watching as the rainy weather took over the warm, sunny days that used to brighten up everybody’s mood in the summertime. The reason why Anne had always had a liking for Autumn was that it always gave her imagination many ideas for tragical stories she couldn’t wait to get to write down. There was a certain flavour in her writing that could only be brought to life when the trees near Green Gables had turned lovely shades of different colours. 

Oddly enough, this October was different. No matter how hard she tried, the words didn’t just flow. They came out just alright, but they didn’t sound like hers. She couldn’t do one of the few things she prided herself in, and it was slowly driving her insane.

She didn’t need to think twice what the reason for the lack of her wordiness was. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Anne that ever since she had spoken out those harsh, inconsiderate words on the train several months ago, Gilbert had become indifferent towards her. The change in his behaviour was subtle, so irrelevant that it shouldn’t have mattered and so discreet she shouldn’t have noticed it. In fact, nothing had changed except the way he smiled and talked to her; Gilbert’s smile and speech didn’t carry the same warmth they used to when they were directed at Anne.

Anne didn’t know why she had noticed it, was the thing. She never realised she had even been paying attention to how Gilbert used to act around her, but apparently something in her subconscious mind had taken notice of it because now that was pretty much the only thing she saw in him. And to top it all off, to her displeasure she found herself unhappy about the change. She supposed it was because it was taking away all her inspiration for words, but that thought didn’t entirely convince her; every time her mind suggested it to her, it was done with such uncertainty that it sounded feeble. 

No, there had to be more to it, but what?

She did feel bad about what she had said to him. He had been kind enough to take her with him to Charlottetown, and all he had received as a thank you was her telling him how little she appreciated the gesture. Of course she hadn’t meant it; they were words of embarrassment and shame after being belittled like a helpless little girl, but she knew she had no right to unleash her anger on him. Anne had tried to apologise, but Gilbert had brushed it off as nothing, saying it was fine, turning away before giving her the chance to utter out a single word out of her mouth. Neither of them spoke of the incident afterwards, but it was clear that her tactless mannerism was the reason there was now a larger, invisible gap between them. They were still friends, if that’s what one could call whatever the status of their relationship was, but it really had been over five months since the train ride and the fact Gilbert had still not returned to his normal self was beginning to be ridiculous. 

She wasn’t going to give voice to her troubled thoughts. She didn’t want to give Gilbert Blythe the satisfaction of knowing he was getting on her nerves without doing anything.

Gilbert was rumoured to be seeing someone from Charlottetown, but whenever someone tried to tease him about it, the subject was quickly changed to something else. He had become so flawless at doing it nobody seemed to notice the conversation was drastically side-tracked. Nobody except for Anne. Whenever she heard one of the boys in her class make a comment about Gilbert’s mysterious romance, she suddenly felt hot all over her body and it took all her willpower not to look in Gilbert’s direction to see how he was reacting to the teasing. But the subject never evolved further than that, and the rumour was never confirmed or debunked. 

“I wonder what Miss Stacy has planned for us today,” Diana said as they walked along the forest road towards the school. 

The road was covered in fallen leaves and whenever they took a step, one or two got kicked in the process, causing them to change their position on the ground. 

“I bet it’s something sensational,” Anne responded confidently. “She sounded ever so excited when she talked about this Monday before the weekend. And you know Miss Stacy, she has her way of making the most ordinary things seem very important and exquisite!”

Diana smiled broadly at that, revealing her front teeth. “I do hope it is something for the magazine. It has been far too long since I had the chance to write something that really matters. I feel the inspiration flowing in my veins, and I am ready to try to make it to the front page.”

Although her dear friend was smiling, her eyes were gleaming with determination. It was an honour to write an article worthy of the front page of their magazine, and Diana had not yet succeeded in that. Most often it was either Anne or Gilbert who made their way to the front page, but this time Anne was sure that wasn’t going to happen.

She took Diana’s hand into hers and squeezed it gently. “I am sure you will make it this time,” she said with every inch of sincerity she found within herself.

Diana’s smile faltered slightly, but she quickly fixed it. Anne noticed it, though, and she could guess what her friend had been thinking. “Don’t worry, I have not been in a writing mood for a very long time. I am almost certain that nothing I write will end up on the paper anyway, and as for Gilbert – well, him we don’t need to care about.”

“Why not?” Diana asked confused. “He is literally the only one besides you who ever writes something worth being included on the front page!”

“He must be too occupied by his special someone that he doesn’t have any room for creativity in his head,” Anne replied, surprised by the harsh tone her voice had come out in. 

Diana let out a loud gasp. “Anne!” she cried out. “You’re not believing the rumours, are you? It’s very impolite to say such things about him when you don’t know if there’s any truth to them!”

“Well, he isn’t denying them either,” Anne defended herself, though deep down she knew Diana was right. She had no right to stir up the rumours even more, and she slightly regretted her choice of words. Thankfully only Diana was within earshot, and Anne could count on her not to tell anybody what she had just said.

It didn’t matter how much Gilbert bothered her, because, in the end, it was her own doing that he was acting differently towards her. She needed to be more sensible.

What Miss Stacy had in mind for them, however, was not writing. No, not even remotely close to that. Her plans were beyond anybody’s wildest imaginations and made most of the girls whisper to each other in excited and hysteric voices.

They were going to practise a dance that they would perform at a small Autumn festival that was going to be arranged in Avonlea in October. The news about performing their dance to such a big number of people added more excitement in people’s hushed voices, and nobody stopped talking until Miss Stacy cleared her throat and asked her students to help her clear the front of the class from desks and chairs so they could start practising. Within a couple of minutes, there was enough room for their small class to fit in comfortably.

Miss Stacy first demonstrated how the dance went. She asked Anne to be her partner for the demonstration, to which she agreed without hesitation. She loved helping her favourite teacher, and she did consider it an honour to be the one to show others how the dance was done. 

“This is a group dance,” Stacy explained. “So in a way we are also learning to work together. If one person doesn’t follow along, the result will not be as satisfactory. Everyone’s participation will be priceless, I can assure you that.”

Ruby’s face dropped. She had instantly run to Gilbert’s side at the mention of ‘dance’, but hearing that she wasn’t going to have him all to herself must’ve ruined all her plans. Anne felt bad for being amused by her friend’s despair. How had she become so wicked and evil all of a sudden? Six months ago she was the one trying to make Gilbert post about Ruby on the school’s take notice board, so why were all these unwelcome emotions bubbling inside her?

Anne shook her head in an attempt to rid her mind of all the irrelevance and to concentrate on learning the dance. As Stacy slowly proceeded on with the dance, Anne had a sudden urge to look at the others watching her. It slightly annoyed her how easily her eyes travelled to where Gilbert was standing, but to her surprise, their eyes locked. Anne didn’t know how long their eye contact lasted, but there was something in Gilbert’s eyes that had been missing these past five months. It made Anne’s stomach do a massive somersault, and when she forced herself to look away, she realised she had been holding her breath and was now silently gasping for air. Why had Gilbert’s gaze affected her so much?

It wasn’t a hard dance to learn, and in no time everybody felt confident enough to give it the first shot. Miss Stacy walked to her desk and took a piece of paper which she studied with great interest. 

“I have already decided on the pairs you will start the dance with, so as you hear your name, please pair up and situate yourself on the dance floor.”

Everybody was silent, their eyes fixed on their teacher. As she announced the pairs, giggles and groans were followed. Diana was paired with Moody, Tillie with one of the guys who had posted about her on the take notice board, Ruby with Gilbert (this one earned the loudest giggles from the fellow classmates), and Anne was paired with Charlie. Once the entire classroom had found their place on the dance floor, Miss Stacy began chanting ‘one, two, three, four’ to set up the tempo for their dance. 

In this dance, they didn’t stay with their original partner for long. A few seconds in, Anne and Charlie had already parted their ways, their focus totally on the next person in line. They would have to do this with two more people before starting the next part, which would surely take a lot more practise than this one. Anne quickly counted who she would be paired with for the next part, and she wasn’t sure whether it surprised her or not that it was going to be Gilbert. Of course it would be him. Gilbert seemed to have realised this, too, for he was smiling at her. Anne looked away, panic growing bigger inside her as her mind took her back to how their eye contact had made her a mess ten minutes ago. What if the same thing happened all over again and she made a fool of herself? 

She had no time to prepare herself, and when her and Gilbert’s hands touched one another, Anne felt strangely exposed. She knew it was only her who was feeling something had changed in their friendship these past months, and suddenly her biggest fear was that being this close to Gilbert, he could read her like an open book and laugh at her stupidity. 

When Anne looked up, she wasn’t prepared to see that same smile she had gotten so used to back on Gilbert’s lips. His eyes looked soft, sort of admiring, and all his features radiated warmth. Anne felt a rush of courage wash through her and she couldn’t help smiling back at him. They still had their palms against each other in the air as they slowly moved in a small circle. Anne looked down, biting her lip and trying to stop smiling while feeling Gilbert’s eyes still fixed on her. 

It felt like this moment brought something back to her, as though their relationship had become whole again. Suddenly all those months of her being bothered by those small changes in Gilbert seemed silly and overly dramatic. Anne felt a new, warm sensation all over her body and her step felt light. It was an unfamiliar yet wonderful feeling.

It took the class a couple tries to get the second part of the dance correctly, after which they moved onto the next steps. Anne and Gilbert had to go separate ways, and Anne felt an unpleasant coldness against the palm on which Gilbert’s had just rested for several minutes. She practised the next dance move with Moody, who was having great difficulty in getting his steps right. Anne, however, was paying attention to none of that as her mind was dangerously travelling back to the moment she had just shared with Gilbert, and she couldn’t help stealing a couple more glances in his direction during the dance practice.

On that spot, she decided she would try to talk to Gilbert after school. They took almost the same route to and from school anyway, so it made perfect sense for them to share a short conversation on the way without anybody feeling the need to make a post about it on the take notice board.  
Their eyes locked again and they both smiled broadly at each other.

Gilbert beat Anne to it – it seemed that he, too, had the same intentions of talking things over after school. As Anne and Diana were walking through the familiar forest, Gilbert’s voice sounded somewhere behind them, calling Anne’s name. Diana looked at Gilbert with great interest while Anne excitedly watched him approach them.

“Anne,” Gilbert said once he was closer. “I’d like to talk to you.”

Diana shot her eyebrows at this and turned to look at Anne, clearly expecting her to tell Gilbert to go away. She wasn’t expecting to see Anne nod and ask her to take the rest of the journey to home on her own. Diana gave them both curious looks but decided not to say anything, and after hugging Anne a good-bye, she went her own way, leaving Anne and Gilbert standing there in the midst of the Autumn leaves.

“Hi,” Anne breathed out.

“Hi,” Gilbert said. “How are you?”

“Never better,” Anne replied, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “The dance was very eye-opening, it gave me a new perspective.”

He raised his eyebrow and his lips curled up in an amused smile. “It did?” he laughed.

Anne nodded. “It taught me that even if people start acting differently on their own accord, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have changed as a person, or that their opinion on you is different.”

“Indeed,” Gilbert responded slowly, trying to weigh her words and make some sense of them. He seemed a bit tense all of a sudden, but he concealed it behind that charming smile of his so well Anne wouldn’t have noticed the change unless she had been intently staring at Gilbert all this time.

“And it also taught me that overthinking is a foul thing that serves you no good.”

“So you mean to say…?” 

The words were just flooding out of her mouth: “Ever since our first train ride I noticed a slight difference in your behaviour towards me, I don’t suppose I was expected to see it, but I did, and until this day I thought you might still be upset with me because of what I said. I understand I was being rude, inconsiderate and immature, but I am ever so delighted to see that you’re back to your own self.” Without noticing she took a step closer to Gilbert, not sure her brain registered how close they were. “Because if I am being completely honest with you, I prefer the old Gilbert.”

Silence. Gilbert was staring into her eyes with an unreadable expression. 

Anne felt her nerves coming to life once more. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked carefully and subconsciously retraced that step she had just taken. 

That seemed to snap Gilbert out of his silence, and he shook his head and looked slightly awkward about something. He chuckled before answering: “It’s just…you’re a wonder, Anne. All these years of knowing you and there still is no way for anyone to predict what’s coming out of that mouth of yours. I never imagined you’d notice something that small when you never seemed to notice that I – uh, never mind.”

“What?” Anne demanded.

“Hey, you never told me what the purpose behind your trips to Charlottetown was, did you succeed in finding what you were looking for?” Gilbert asked casually as though he had just lost his memory of the conversation they were still having just a couple seconds ago.

“Gilbert Blythe, do not change the subject! It doesn’t work on me the way it does on Charlie and Moody,” Anne said a bit grimly. 

“I really want to know,” Gilbert insisted. They stared each other into eyes for what felt like an hour until he said in the softest voice possible: “Please.”

Anne took a sharp intake of breath and the chilly Autumn air filled her lungs. She wanted to protest but it felt silly to do so. She could surely live without knowing the rest of Gilbert’s unfinished sentence. 

“I wanted to find out about my true origins, who my parents were and if they truly cared about me. I needed to travel to Charlottetown so I could take the boat to Nova Scotia. Cole and I went to the orphanage I was always returned to, but they didn’t have any records about me or my family. Thanks to our persistent minds, we didn’t give up and we kept on with the search. Eventually, we found someone who knew a great deal about my parents and they sounded so dreamy, like the kind of people everyone deserves to have as their parents. I was so relieved to find out that I hadn’t just made up everything I knew about them, because there was a time when I was doubting whether it all was just my imagination.”

As she spoke, she studied Gilbert’s face to see any changes on it. If his features weren’t already soft, they were that now, and his warm smile reached his eyes. It was as though he truly understood Anne and how she must’ve felt about the uncertainty of the entire situation.

“I’m glad to hear your parents were good people, Anne. There was never any doubt about that, though,” he said sincerely.

“I do feel bad for ever doubting it, but now that I know where I come from and who made me, I can finally start looking for an answer to the question I’ve always wanted to know.”

“What is the question?”

Anne smiled. “Who is Anne with an E? Once I know the answer to that, I think everything will be much clearer to me.”

Gilbert looked a mixture of…happy and hopeful, as though this conversation gave him new inspiration or a new perspective. The thought of her story moving him like that gave her such a thrill. Why had she been ignoring how great a person Gilbert Blythe truly was? Had she seriously let her pride cloud her judgment that easily? 

“I am happy for you, Anne,” Gilbert said and there was no doubt he wasn’t being sincere. “I hope you will soon find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you, Gilbert. I mean it,” she said gratefully. “Who knows, perhaps this quest will lead me to another adventure, there seems to be one around every corner, waiting for me to go on it.”

Their hands briefly brushed against each other, making Anne feel slightly hot in the cheeks and her heart skipped a beat. She pulled her hand away and busied it with her hair. Gilbert watched amusedly as Anne was struggling with embarrassment – he didn’t seem to mind the touch in the slightest. Of course he didn’t; he was Gilbert Blythe. It seemed as though it was impossible for a Blythe to not be overly confident. 

“Well, if you ever need any help with your quest or possible adventure, I will be more than pleased to help you,” Gilbert said ceremonially after a short silence, obviously saying it as a joke and not expecting Anne to take the offer.

“Thank you,” she said one more time with a broad smile, trying her best to hide the awkwardness she was feeling. 

Soon after that, they separated their ways and began their journey to their homes. Anne’s heart was still pounding in her chest. She had noticed Gilbert had begun to make her feel things she had never felt before, as though an unfamiliar element had just entered her system and her body didn’t know how to fight it. She needed to figure out what these emotions meant, as soon as possible.

Once she was able to calm herself down, she couldn’t help humming to an unknown tune on her way home, and as she looked around and saw the colourful trees, her mind instantly travelled to the beautiful trees around Green Gables and how their colours looked ever so delicious in October. 

Perhaps she could finally sit down and write this Autumn’s first tragical story?

**Author's Note:**

> After what happened in episode 2, I don't think I can trust my predictions as to what might happen during this season. So the chances are the canon will go south from what I've written here but HEY it doesn't matter!!!! 
> 
> All sorts of feedback would be greatly appreciated <3 
> 
> tumblr - frosinn.tumblr (if you'd like to follow me and see me yell about this show 5 times a day.)


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